Sea Hunt (TV Series 1958–1961) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Mike Nelson is a Scuba Diver in the days when it was still very new. He works alone and the plot was always mostly carried through his voice over narrations. These gave the show a flavor of... See full summary » Creator: Mike attempts to rescue a movie starlet trapped underwater aboard a ship, which is flooded after a special effects dynamite blast. 9.3 A geologist, looking for uranium deposits in an underwater cave, is trapped by a landslide. 9.2 Mike desperately tries to save the life and limb of a popular dancer whose leg is hopelessly pinned in wreckage 90 feet below the surface.

9.2 a list of 49 titles created 01 Dec 2010 a list of 142 titles created 31 Jan 2013 a list of 38 titles created 10 months ago a list of 53 titles created 7 months ago a list of 41 titles created 2 months ago Search for " Sea Hunt " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Title: Sea Hunt (1958–1961) 7.9/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Powerful patrol cars, fast motorcycles, and superheterodyne two-way radios combine to fight crime on the rural highways of America's wide open spaces. Stars: Broderick Crawford, Art Gilmore, William Boyett The misadventures of two of New York's finest (a Mutt and Jeff pair) in the mythical 53rd precinct in the Bronx. Toody, the short, stocky and dim-witted one either saves the day or muffs ... See full summary » Stars: Joe E.

Ross, Fred Gwynne, Paul Reed From the hills of West Virginia, Amos McCoy moves his family to an inherited farm in California. Grandpa Amos is quick to give advice to his three grandchildren and wonders how his neighbors ever managed without him around. Stars: Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, Kathleen Nolan The adventures of the masked hero and his Native American partner. Stars: Jay Silverheels, Clayton Moore, John Hart A pair of intelligence agents posing as a tennis pro and his coach go on secret missions around the world. Stars: Robert Culp, Bill Cosby, Kenneth Tobey Lawman is the story of Marshal Dan Troop of Laramie, Wyoming and his deputy Johnny McKay, an orphan Troop took under his wing. In the second season Lily Merrill opens The Birdcage Saloon ... See full summary » Stars: John Russell, Peter Brown, Peggie Castle The adventures of two young drifters across America. Stars: Martin Milner, George Maharis, Glenn Corbett Sgt. Joe Friday and his partners methodically investigate crimes in Los Angeles. Stars: Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, Olan Soule The Smothers Brothers host a comedy variety that would become notorious for its topical satirical humor.

Stars: Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers, Pat Paulsen The Double R Ranch featured "The King of the Cowboys" Roy, his "Smartest Horse in the Movies" Trigger, "Queen of the West" Dale, her horse Buttermilk, their dog Bullet, and even Pat's jeep, Nellybelle. Stars: Dale Evans, Roy Rogers, Trigger Dressed-up dandy (derby and cane), gambler and lawman roams the West charming women and defending the unjustly accused. His primary weapon was his wit (and cane) rather than his gun. Stars: Gene Barry, Allison Hayes, Allen Jaffe The World War II North African missions of an Allied commando patrol squad of the Long Range Desert Group. Stars: Christopher George, Gary Raymond, Eric Braeden Edit Storyline Mike Nelson is a Scuba Diver in the days when it was still very new. He works alone and the plot was always mostly carried through his voice over narrations. These gave the show a flavor of a radio program. Typical adventures were finding a downed satellite or sunken treasure.

Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net> 4 January 1958 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Abenteuer unter Wasser See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia Lloyd Bridges decided to leave the show after four seasons because the producers wanted to emphasize cops-and-robbers plots while Bridges wanted to focus more on environmental themes. See more » Quotes One of the major lost series... 27 March 2006 | by blondiesguy2004 (United States) – See all my reviews Back in the late 1950's, "Sea Hunt" was one of the biggest hits on TV. It inspired a small score of short-lived knockoffs like "Aquanauts" (from the same producers, Ivan Tors and Ziv TV) and "Assignment Underwater", as well as an airborne "Sea Hunt" called "Ripcord" (also from Tors and Ziv). Today this gem sits in the Sony Pictures archives, gathering "seaweed". Which is a crying shame, because this was a cool adventure show, the ultimate in shows for the man's man.

Former B-actor Lloyd Bridges escaped the obscurity list to take on the role of no-nonsense scuba diver Mike Nelson. There simply couldn't be any other actor made for such a rugged role... Bridges was the one, bar none. His craggy, determined looks made him a natural. That was proved 26 years after the last original "Sea Hunt" aired, when Ron "Tarzan" Ely was cast as Nelson in a tepid remake. Ely was rugged, but he simply wasn't Lloyd Bridges. At least the character of Nelson obviously led a charmed life, for the revival added a hottie for his daughter, played by Kim Sissons. Add in some impressive underwater photography, courtesy of Ricou Browning and Courtney Brown, and some serious stunts (many courtesy of Bridges himself), throw in some taut scripts, and you have a show that is dying to be resurrected on DVD. Note: Avoid the 1987 revival like the plague. Boring as sin. "Sea Hunt" is a Ziv Television Production, produced with the cooperation of Marineland of the Pacific, Los Angeles. Owned by the MGM division of Sony Pictures.

155 episodes were filmed between 1957 and 1961. 31 of 33 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Mike Nelson: TV Hero Among Divers, Defender of Good - History of SCUBA Diving Mike Nelson (alias LLoyd Bridges) TV Hero Among Divers, Defender of Good Mike Nelson was the idol of every child in the US and Canada in the early 60�s. Every kid wanted to be like Mike, don diving gear, and explore the undersea world depicted on the beloved series Sea Hunt. Played by Lloyd Bridges, Mike was bigger than life. He was an ex-Frogman and military man with connections throughout the world. His friends called him Bud. The series opened with that eerie music and Mike putting on that familiar Johnny Mac Browne surface air mask at Marineland. Mike was amazing. He could rescue a pilot in a sunken plane in 28 minutes. That�s how long the episodes were. He fought off villains and salvaged everything from bicycles to children trapped in a cave. He went after treasure and performed rescues whenever danger and excitement lurked below.

He always wore a Voit green label double hose regulator while he cut the hoses on the villains, who wore single hose regulators most of the time. We can see who had the upper hand. At the end of each episode he made a plea to protect the oceans. He fed the animals at the now defunct Marineland in PaloVerdes, California. Mike Nelson could do anything. He was a freelance diver that was on call by anyone, any time�even the US NAVY. Lloyd Bridges had stunt doubles that helped him do the underwater work, one of which was the late Courtney Brown. Another was a famous videographer of that time, Rico Browning, alias the �Monster from the Black Lagoon.� In fact, several Navy Frogmen doubled for Mike on the deeper dives. One such deep diver and technical advisor was Jon Lindberg, son of a General. At first all scenes were filmed in studio tanks and outdoor locations at Marineland. Some of the filming was done in exotic places as the series progressed including the front side of Catalina Island, Paradise Cove West of Malibu, Silver Springs, Cypress Gardens, Tarpon Springs, and the Florida Keys, as well as Nassau and Grand Bahamas Island.

LLOYD (BRIDGES) LIVES. Courtney Brown (from left) was a stunt double and did all the water work for Bridges in the beginning of Sea Hunt. Big John McLaughlin was a stunt double for James Bond movies (Thunderball) and Flipper. He also helped on Sea Hunt and is an ex-Navy Deep Diver. Ricou Browning is a very famous videographer and did all the water work for Creature from the Black Lagoon. Commander Doug (Red Dog) Fane started the UDT and underwater frogmen in the US NAVY during WWII. Ivan Tors met Commander Francis Douglas Fane when doing the Frogman movie Underwater Warrior and Fane was Ivan�s inspiration for the Sea Hunt series. Lamar Boren had the underwater camera that he developed and the experience from Ivan�s earlier movies. One interesting note when filming Sea Hunt underwater: Producer Ivan Tors, associate producer John Floren, the director, cameraman, and the lighting men were all underwater too. Ivan�s secretary also was there taking notes underwater. Her name was Zale Parry. Zale was an experienced Instructor and diver at the time, she got her start on Sea Hunt as Ivan Tors' secretary.

Bridges was given an introduction to diving by his co-star Parry, an instructor from L.A. County, but was not certified as a diver until after the series ended. Al Tillman was also technical advisor and involved in the production of the show. Parry was joined in 1960 by underwater stunt double Wendy Wagner. Pioneering underwater cinematographer, Lamar Boren, shot all the underwater scenes. Boren went on to work on Flipper and James Bond movies. Some of the stars featured in Sea Hunt that went on to become famous were Lloyd�s sons, Beau and Jeff, Jack Nicholson, Leonard Nimoy, Larry Hagman, and Robert Conrad to name just a few. MGM owns the rights to those episodes today. Tors had tried to sell it to NBC, CBS, and ABC who all turned it down, stating that no one would watch an ex-Navy Frogman. In the end these network executives were embarrassed by the popularity of this beloved series, filmed from 1958 to 1961. Most divers have added an episode or two of Sea Hunt to their diving collectibles over the years. All episodes were filmed in black and white, except one which was filmed in color.

At the time, filming in color was considered too expensive and not that popular with the public. Ivan went to the Dive N� Surf shop, owned by Bob and Bill Meistrell, at Redondo Beach where equipment was purchased for the show. After the series ended, Bob went on to certify Lloyd Bridges at the Dive N� Surf , which is the home of Body Glove. Bob served as one of the technical advisors for the show. Meistrall has the distinction of being the first certified L.A. County Instructor, so it�s no surprise that diver safety was always promoted by Mike Nelson throughout the series. The now famous suit that Mike wore was painted light gray on black neoprene by Bob and Bill Meistrall. It was quite a production, according to Bob. It was actually gray cement produced by Grayco, which had to be applied while someone was wearing it. The director was upset that the Meistrall brothers charged $100 to apply this special cement to the suit. The brothers handed him the cement and corn starch and said �You�re on your own.� After one failed attempt, where Bridges sat down and got stuck to the chair, Tors was more than happy to rehire the brothers and pay their fee.

Sea Hunt was the most merchandised show of the time. You could buy a Mike Nelson Mask, the fins, weight belt and weights�comic books, books and LP records in Mike�s voice teaching you how to dive. In that day, any merchandise associated with water or diving was sure to be accompanied by an image of Mike Nelson. People trusted Mike Nelson. There are so many stories revolving around the series, but one of the most humorous was told by Lloyd�s son, Beau. His father was at a Navy Seal get-together and they had a question for Bridges. The Seals have a certain maneuver called �the Mike Nelson,� where a diver picks up the double tanks and throws them over his head and onto his back, as demonstrated so effortlessly by Mike Nelson in so many episodes. The divers wanted to know Bridge�s trick because the tanks are so heavy and they just couldn�t maneuver them like Mike. Lloyd looked at them and laughed. He said �My tanks were made out of Balsa wood!� A nice feel good story Bob Meistrell likes to tell about Gary Cooper and Lloyd Bridges. Bob & Patty were at a party at Hugh O�Brien�s house and they knew no one accept Hugh at the party.

When Gary Cooper and his wife and daughter walked in, Bob invites them to sit with them at their table because they didn�t know anyone at the party either. In walks Lloyd Bridges and his wife, and Bob says to Gary, �Go and invite Lloyd to our table.� Gary refuses saying, �He probably wouldn�t remember me. (The two actors were both in the movie �High Noon� together.) So, Bob went over to invite Lloyd and his wife to sit with them and Lloyd says, �I don�t think Mr. Cooper would remember me.� Demonstrating how down to earth these two guys were. Ivan Tors, director and producer of the show, could not know how those 155 episodes would influence the dive community and what a lasting effect this series would have on the public, over 50 years later. Sea Hunt remains a cult classic to this day. In 2007 we had a party at Portage Quarry celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Mike Nelson. The world�s foremost collector of Sea Hunt Memorabilia was there�Alec Peirce from Toronto. It was well attended and replete with cake and refreshments.

Mike was not there, unfortunately, as he was called away on a rescue mission. Duty calls! However, the Argonaut, Too boat stood in for him, docked at the Quarry. Skin Diving is fun and adventurous for young and old, and can be dangerous. Know the sport well and don't take any chances. I'll be with you next week for another exciting SEA HUNT Author: Legends of Diving Writer's Guild We want to thank Bob Meistrell, Dive Training Magazine, Kent Rockwell, Historical Dive Society, and Alec Peirce for their help. Archive Library � 2010 International Legends of Diving All Rights Reserved. Thank you for your interest in this History of SCUBA diving. The text in this article is the sole property of the Legends of Diving. The article is copyrighted and cannot be used in any way without the written permission of the International Legends of Diving. If you would like a copy of this article please contact the webmaster . Sea Hunt: P.T. Boat TV Show review all reviews Support The 34th episode of Sea Hunt ’s 4th season on TV was called P.T. Boat and aired in August 1961.

The show starred Lloyd Bridges as deep sea diving expert Mike Nelson with guest stars Kelton Garwood as Kendrick Calway and Lisabeth Hush as Linda Calway. Also appearing briefly was Ken Roberts, who I believe played the role of Buck, but I’m not a hundred percent on that because of how they do the credits for this underwater adventure series. At the beginning of the half hour episode, Mike’s boat got hooked onto Ken’s boat which is how they meet. With little explanation other than being told in the narration by Mike, the men end up working together. At the heart of it all is a device which Ken has invented that goes on a P.T. boat. It was a control device that would guide the boat ... into dangerous situations without jeopardizing lives. Amid the drama, this show has a bit of romance for Mike and Linda. They actually spend a few days together in Nassau. What I appreciate about this show is that while Mike Nelson isn’t a hermit, the romance angle is not overdone. Thus, when he does get involved with someone, it’s enjoyable and easy to take. The complications for the plot comes when the control device stops working, or so it seems. In reality, there is much more to it.

After a boat crashes as a result of the apparent malfunction, Mike has to investigate further. The last scene was a bit off. It gave the fun of Mike wanting to spend more time with Linda, but Ken was still on the phone and acting like he wasn’t. It was the staging that failed. Overall, this was an okay show. Don't Be Nice. Be Helpful. Do you know ? Sea Hunt: Diamond River opens with an intriguing bit where diver Mike Nelson is working with a scientist in testing an underwater communication device called a hydra phone. I love the idea of this device which allowed clearer and easier communication between divers and those on a boat ... The review was published as it's written by reviewer in October, 2010. The reviewer certified that no compensation was received from the reviewed item producer, trademark owner or any other institution, related with the item reviewed. The site is not responsible for the mistakes made.

103101283420431/k2311a103/10.3.10 Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of the Terms & Conditions Lloyd Bridges Is Dead at 85; Actor Starred in 'Sea Hunt' - The New York Times The New York Times Movies |Lloyd Bridges Is Dead at 85; Actor Starred in 'Sea Hunt' Search Lloyd Bridges Is Dead at 85; Actor Starred in 'Sea Hunt' By RICHARD SEVERO Continue reading the main story Lloyd Bridges, whose acting career spanned more than five decades and whose sons, Jeff and Beau, also became well-known actors, died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 85. Although he had suffered from minor illnesses in the last year, he continued to work and had recently completed two feature films, ''Jane Austen's Mafia'' and ''Meeting Daddy,'' the latter with his son Beau. In June of 1992, Mr. Bridges underwent open-heart surgery to clear blockages in his coronary arteries. Within six weeks, he exhibited his customary robustness, said he had never felt better and went to work on another film.

Tall, blond and craggy-faced, Mr. Bridges played a wide variety of roles in everything from summer stock to Hollywood films to television series. He achieved wide renown as Mike Nelson, the former Navy frogman who was the mainstay of ''Sea Hunt,'' an underwater adventure series that ran for 156 episodes from 1957 to 1961. Continue reading the main story Late-night comedians, especially Johnny Carson, used to tell jokes derived from the frequency with which Mr. Bridges, always fit and trim and looking forever like a slightly aging quarterback, was seen daring the fates underwater or emerging from the sea unscathed despite sharks, shipwrecks and assorted malefactors. TV Guide described the show as ''an epic so watery that Lloyd Bridges's colleagues tell him they have to drain their TV sets after watching his show.'' Advertisement Continue reading the main story The show did not end for lack of viewer interest, but because Mr. Bridges felt hemmed in by the format, which his producers refused to change. ''They wanted more cops and robbers,'' Mr. Bridges said.

''I wanted to look at the real villains of the sea, like the oil companies.'' Before ''Sea Hunt,'' Mr. Bridges was a familiar face, not just in forgettable formula Hollywood films like ''Rocketship XM'' (1950), but also in memorable television dramas like ''Rise Up and Walk'' (1952), which dealt with the ordeal of polio. Although he appeared in many undistinguished Hollywood films, a few of his movies were well received by the critics, and his work was praised. Among these were ''A Walk in the Sun'' (1945), about a World War II skirmish in Italy, and ''High Noon,'' the 1952 Western classic, in which he played Gary Cooper's brash young deputy, withholding his aid from Cooper because of anger at not having been given the sheriff's job. Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. was born on Jan. 13, 1913, in San Leandro, Calif., the son of Lloyd and Harriet Brown Bridges. His father managed a nickelodeon in San Francisco, and the family tree included jugglers and entertainers.

But the elder Bridges did not want his son to become an actor and encouraged him study law. ''I took legal courses at U.C.L.A. and was fully prepared to go all the way until I took constitutional law,'' Mr. Bridges later recalled. ''And that did me in. I decided maybe law wasn't for me.'' Acting, it seemed, was for him. After earning his bachelor's degree, Mr. Bridges went east, worked in stock companies and, at one point in the late 1930's, directed a modern-dress version of ''Othello'' in which he played Iago. To earn some money, he and his wife, Dorothy, taught drama at the Cherry Lawn School in Darien, Conn. But in 1941, a producer for Columbia Pictures saw him act and signed him to a studio contract. What followed were many supporting roles in films in which it would have been hard for any actor to shine. Only occasionally did pictures come along that attracted any attention.

Among them were ''Sahara'' (1943), in which he was part of a small cast supporting Humphrey Bogart; ''Canyon Passage'' (1946), a modest but well-received Western that was mostly a vehicle for Dana Andrews, and ''Plymouth Adventure'' (1952), a story of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, which was dominated by Spencer Tracy. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Other movies in which he starred or appeared during this period included ''Colt 45'' (1950), ''Little Big Horn'' (1951), ''The Tall Texan'' (1953) and ''The Rainmaker'' (1956). His contribution to the success of the acclaimed ''Home of the Brave'' (1949) was more conspicuous, as were his roles in ''High Noon'' and ''A Walk in the Sun.'' But when television started offering him work, he quickly accepted it, leaving his ambition to do serious acting on the big screen largely unfulfilled. He also turned to producing television shows.

In the late 1950's, he said in an interview that he thought he could play Hamlet better than Richard Burton and Othello better than Jose Ferrer, but by then he thought that he was typecast by the success of ''Sea Hunt.'' ''The public seemed to think of me as being underwater,'' he said. ''It's not what I think an actor should do, but maybe I should accept it.'' On another occasion, growing tired of ''Sea Hunt,'' he told an interviewer, ''If we could just get some way to do 'Hamlet' underwater, I'd be happy.'' His association with television continued for the rest of his career. And even though he had left the part of Mike Nelson behind him, it stalked him. In 1969, for example, he made a television movie called ''Daring Game,'' an underwater adventure.

Among the other television series in which he starred were ''The Lloyd Bridges Show'' in the early 1960's, in which he played a journalist; ''The Loner,'' also in the 1960's, a short-lived western written by Rod Serling; ''Joe Forrester'' (1976), in which he played a police officer, and ''Paper Dolls'' (1984), in which he played the head of a conglomerate. Mr. Bridges displayed a deft comedic touch in the 1980 parody ''Airplane,'' in which he played an incompetent plane dispatcher. In 1988 he received praise for his appearance in the film ''Tucker: The Man and His Dream,'' in which his son, Jeff, played Preston Tucker, the beleaguered postwar automobile designer. Mr. Bridges played a senator trying to force Tucker out of business. In addition to his acting, Mr. Bridges maintained a strong interest in a variety of social causes, especially world hunger. In 1988, he was head of a mission for CARE, investigating hunger in sub-Saharan Africa.

He also appeared as a television spokesman for People for the American Way, a liberal group founded by the television producer Norman Lear. And he made many public-service announcements about the need to protect the environment. Mr. Bridges and his wife, the former Dorothy Simpson, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1989. Besides his wife, Mr. Bridges leaves his two sons; a daughter, Cindy, and 11 grandchildren. Lloyd Bridges in his own words Lloyd Bridges in his own words By Eric Hanauer Lloyd Bridges in his own words Lloyd Bridges in his own words by Eric Hanauer In the past year, the diving world has lost two giants. One was an explorer, inventor and filmmaker. The other was an actor and casual diver yet his influence equalled Cousteau's in the early days of scuba. Lloyd Bridges starred as Mike Nelson for only four years out of a 60 year acting career and spent the rest of his life trying to avoid being typecast. 'I don't know why you want to write about me. I'm an actor, not a diver,' was his initial reaction to an interview request. Sea Hunt was the most successful underwater television show of all time.

It originally ran only from 1957 through 1961, yet was consistently among the top rated programs; reruns continued to be shown for 20 years. By today's standards, the old shows weren't as good as our nostalgic recollections.Within a span of 30 minutes (including commercials) a crime was committed, Mike Nelson got into trouble, got out of trouble, rescued a damsel, caught the bad guys and neatly wrapped things up with a safety message. The main reason it worked was Bridges. He was believable, likable and charismatic, rising above mediocre scripts to make Mike Nelson real to millions of viewers. In a 1994 interview, Lloyd was frank about his limited diving background. 'I do more snorkeling than diving. One of the good things about being recognized is that guys in the business take me out and furnish the equipment. I take advantage of it when I have the time.' Acting was his passion and his profession. Bridges' movie career began in 1940, but he was stereotyped as a supporting actor, primarily in westerns and war movies. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era, he was struggling when Ivan Tors called.

Sea Hunt was in the planning stage and Tors had seen Lloyd playing the role of a hard-hat diver in the film Sixteen Fathoms Deep. 'He didn't have any idea whether I could swim or not...and said swimming didn't matter. Of course it mattered very much. I was not a great swimmer, although I swam quite a bit in the ocean.' It took a while to decide on Tors' offer, because a serious actor in those days didn't want to be stuck in a weekly television show. 'But I needed to feed my family and it seemed so unusual...I read a couple of the episodes and asked Ivan, How can you keep on doing the same thing?' No problem,' he said and he did it.' On the day before shooting began, Lloyd had his first scuba lesson in Courtney Brown's swimming pool. The next morning he was underwater in Silver Springs, Florida, playing Mike Nelson. 'Someone gave me an almost empty tank. After running out of air in a few minutes, I had to put into practice what I'd been taught about buddy breathing.' Among the crew were Zale Parry, technical advisor and stunt girl, Ricou Browning, and cameraman Lamar Boren.

'Zale and I did the pilot for Sea Hunt. She taught me a lot about diving...and she was especially beautiful underwater. She doubled for all the gals and played a leading part in a couple of episodes. 'Ivan Tors was the brains of the whole thing....We wouldn't see him on the set very often, he was off dreaming up the next episode. He would give his ideas to a staff of about four or five writers. 'Courtney Brown was my mentor...he taught me so many things about the underwater world....He doubled for me underwater and was responsible for making me look good. We felt my form was very important, my strokes, how I kicked....We wanted to set a good example for the growing number of divers watching.' In the beginning, Courtney did all of Mike Nelson's underwater stunts, with Bridges appearing only in close-ups. As many as six underwater sequences were shot in a week, so there were times when Brown was underwater in Florida while Bridges was on a sound stage in Hollywood. 'As time went on, I got envious and wanted to do a lot of stunts myself.' But there were a few drawbacks.

'Carrying those double tanks around all the time got to be a little rough on me....They decided to use balsa wood tanks painted silver so they wouldn't wear me out. But I still had to put that damn wetsuit on and take it off, sometimes three or four times a day, because they'd cut from that to some topside thing.' Unlike most wetsuits of the time, Mike Nelson's was gray. 'They decided not to have it black because that was kind of villainous looking.' The Meistrell brothers of Dive 'n Surf made the suits and spray painted them, charging $100, which Tors thought was too much. Bob Meistrell said, 'They first tried spraying it with Lloyd's stand-in in the suit;he couldn't put his arms down before the paint was dry. Then they had to cut the suit off him. After that they let us do it.' Bridges recalled, 'We worked under a lot of pressure...three days to do an episode, sometimes two in a week, 39 episodes a year. It was very important that you kept your sanity and didn't let the pressure of time affect what would be seen later on the screen.

'One embarrassing thing that happened to me...they had the press out on the set one day, and the sea happened to be very rough. Mike Nelson wasn't supposed to get seasick, but I would excuse myself, go on the other side of the ship and toss my cookies, then come back and make believe I was Mike Nelson again.' Sometimes being Mike proved a burden. Dorothy Bridges, Lloyd's wife for more than 50 years, said, 'The first time we went to Hawaii was at the height of Sea Hunt. In our hotel, there was a message from the admiral of the 7th fleet addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Mike Nelson: If we wanted a tour of Pearl Harbor, the admiral's yacht was at our disposal. Commander Nielsen was in charge of UDT there and he said, ÔWe're thinking of buying new regulators and would like you to look them over.' Lloyd said, ÔCommander, you're pulling my leg.' Commander Nielsen turned to the other officers and said, ÔSee, I told you Mr. Nelson would be a modest man.' He was serious. It was like he refused to believe there's no Santa Claus.

They later asked Lloyd to join in a demonstration of a 100 foot free ascent and I told them I never let him swim after lunch.' I asked Bridges why Sea Hunt was so successful. 'You mean besides me being in it (laughs)? It was the first time anyone tackled a show that took place underwater. The stories were sort of exciting for kids, like cops and robbers underwater. We never killed anybody, though. There was enough action and suspense without having that kind of violence. The worst thing we did was to pull somebody's air hose. 'When we finished the fourth year they wanted to keep on with it....I said, ÔOK, if we change the format a little bit....There's a lot to be said about what's happening to our ocean, big companies polluting it with their oil and all the raw garbage that's being spilled in there. A lot of villains out there have suits on, that don't look like your regular villain, and Mike Nelson could tackle that kind of situation. It could be just as exciting and maybe do something about clearing up the mess that we're putting in the ocean.' One of our sponsors was Standard Oil, so Ivan didn't think that was a good idea.' Bridges had no regrets.

'For four years doing that same character all the time kind of bothered me. But...it opened up a lot of doors.' The end of Sea Hunt gave Bridges time for something he couldn't do while the series was going on;dive. The entire family took a course from Bob Meistrell and got certified (in the show Bridges had rarely gone below 30 feet). Sons Jeff and Beau had begun their acting careers in Sea Hunt. 'We dived off Nassau, a little at Catalina and Hawaii....A lot of people say that Sea Hunt was responsible for their discovering the underwater world. I'm glad, not only that they'll be enjoying diving, but also that they'll be in a position to see the pollution that could ruin our oceans, and may join in the fight to save this precious world for future generations. 'I love the sea and I love diving and (am) very flattered people recognize I had something to do with the development of interest in the underwater world. But I'm foremost an actor. I feel embarrassed being compared to the guys who really work at it....I fake it, I make believe I know all about it, which is what you're supposed to do as an actor.' Bon voyage, Lloyd Bridges.

And thanks for inspiring so many of us to go underwater. Editor's note: Born January 15, 1913, Lloyd Bridges died March 10, 1998, in Malibu, California, after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Dorothy, sons Beau and Jeff, daughter Cindy and 11 grandchildren. Bridges was a veteran of more than 100 movies and six TV series. His last two movies, Meeting Daddy and Jane Austen's Mafia will be released this summer. 'He never retired,' Dorothy says. The Bridges family has suggested that those who would like to remember Lloyd make a donation in his name to one of his favorite charities: American Oceans (800) 862-3260; Heal The Bay (310) 581-4188; and Earth Trust (310) 456-8300. Mares Ruby Regulator Correction: The Mares Ruby review, in the January article 'The Top 15 Regulators: $500 and Over,' contained an error.

We stated 'The Ruby gets its name from the second stage poppet, which is made of a precious ruby gemstone.' The ruby poppet, which helps control airflow, is actually in the first stage of the regulator. We apologize for any confusion this error may have caused. For more information on the Mares Ruby regulator or Mares' extensive line of diving products, please contact the company at Shore Pointe, One Selleck Street, Norwalk, CT 06855; (203) 855-0631, (203) 866-9573 (fax). Obituary: Lloyd Bridges | The Independent Obituary: Lloyd Bridges Thursday 12 March 1998 00:02 BST Click to follow The Independent Online AFTER more than 20 years as an actor in theatre and cinema, Lloyd Bridges found international fame as an underwater investigator in the television series Sea Hunt. Twenty-three years later, his career in eclipse, he found new fame by spoofing his own macho image in the film Airplane.

He was then 67, but looked far younger, thanks to regular exercise; he played tennis, skied, jogged, and, of course, swam. Perhaps the reason for the relentless physical regime that kept him looking so lean and virile for more than seven decades is that President William Howard Taft once presented him with a trophy for being America's Fattest Baby. Bridges wasn't the first actor in his family; his father, Lloyd Bridges, Senior, had played in silent films. While studying political science at UCLA, Lloyd Jnr joined the University Dramatic Society and appeared in classic and contemporary plays. After graduating, he acted in various stock companies, and toured in a production of The Taming of the Shrew before braving New York. After two uneventful years, he and some actor friends formed "The Playroom Club", one of the first off-Broadway theatre companies.

Bridges made his Broadway debut as an extra in a production of Othello (1937), co-starring Walter Huston and Brian Aherne, and had better roles in Cocteau's The Infernal Machine (1937) and Eugene O'Neill's Susannah and the Elders (1940). Spotted by the film executive Sidney Buchman, he was signed to a contract with Columbia Pictures at $75 a week. His first film was The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941), one of a long series of Lone Wolf "B" features churned out by Columbia. The studio had other series, of course, and Bridges appeared in most of them; in Blondie Goes to College (1942), Alias Boston Blackie (also 1942) and The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943), as well as in slapstick two-reelers, a serial, and such "A" features as Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941), The Talk of the Town (1942), The Commandos Strike at Dawn (1943) and Sahara (1943).

In his four years at the studio, he made more than 45 films. "To get their money's worth out of me, they'd put me in two or three pictures a week," Bridges recalled. "As a result, I worked with a lot of stars like Ronald Colman, Cary Grant, Paul Muni and Humphrey Bogart. They were real stars." The turning-point in his career came after he left Columbia and appeared in Lewis Milestone's A Walk in the Sun (1945), one of the few Hollywood films about the Second World War that had any distinction. The same war formed the background of Home of the Brave (1949), one of the first liberal films on the subject of colour prejudice. It was the story of an African- American GI (James Edwards), who, on a Japanese-held atoll in the South Pacific, suffered psychological paralysis after the death of Bridges, his fellow soldier and only friend. Bridges also scored as an arrogant ex-Nazi army officer in The White Tower (1950) and as Gary Cooper's treacherous deputy in High Noon (1952). That same year, he appeared with Lee J. Cobb in another western, The Tall Texan.

In June 1953, Cobb testified to the House Committee on Un- American Activities that Bridges was once a Communist. The resultant dip in his career took Bridges back to Broadway, where he appeared in the play Dead Pigeon (1953), but the production itself was dead in three weeks. What film work came his way was of a minor nature until 1956, when he played Katharine Hepburn's mean-spirited brother in The Rainmaker (1956). Because he had once seen him play a sponge-diver in a minor movie called 16 Fathoms Deep (1948), the television producer Ivan Tors offered Bridges the role of the subaqueous Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt. The series was turned down by every American network, in the belief that a weekly undersea adventure show would soon run out of story ideas. They were proved resoundingly wrong; Sea Hunt ran in syndication from 1957 to 1961, notching up 156 episodes, and making Bridges into a household name.

He also directed some segments of Sea Hunt, and his daughter Lucinda, as well as his now famous sons Jeff and Beau, appeared in the show. Although he made occasional films such as Around the World Under the Sea and Attack on the Iron Coast (both 1968), most of Bridges's post-Sea Hunt roles now came from television; he played a freelance journalist in The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962-63), a disillusioned ex- cavalry officer in the western series The Loner (1965-66), and starred in many small-budget television movies. In 1974, the magazine Film Dope, while recognising that Bridges's acting potential was stronger than ever, wrote that television quickies were "now his staple diet, but what else can be expected from somebody who has voluntarily spent the last 15 years of his screen career underwater, being upstaged by various sharks and octopi?" Six years, and many TV quickies later, Bridges's career was given a surprise shot in the arm by Airplane, the outrageous lampoon of air disaster films, in which he played McCroskey, the harried air-traffic controller.

"What a week to give up smoking!" he cried, filling his lungs with tobacco fumes. As tension mounted, McCroskey declared it was an equally inappropriate week to give up drinking, and, finally, glue- sniffing, each time abusing his system appropriately. Airplane was written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. Abrahams directed and co-wrote Hot Shots! (1991), in which Bridges managed to top his McCroskey performance as mad Admiral "Tug" Benson, who made his entrance stepping confidently off a 727 before the steps had been rolled out, and plummeting, still saluting, on to the tarmac. Later, in this frenzied parody of Top Gun, he told his young pilots: "I've personally flown over 194 missions, and I was shot down on every one. I've never landed a plane in my life!" Two years later, the sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux, revealed that "Tug" Benson had left the navy and become the President of the United States. Even more demented than before, Benson greeted Charlie Sheen with a warm: "You're the son I never had.

No wonder I didn't recognise you." Christopher Tookey wrote in the Daily Mail: "The best thing in the movie is veteran actor Lloyd Bridges." He appeared with his son Beau in the television series Harts of the West (1993), and with his son Jeff in Blown Away (1994). "I play Jeff's father-figure," he told an interviewer. "Which obviously didn't require much method acting." Lloyd Vernet Bridges, actor: born San Leandro, California 15 January 1913; married 1938 Dorothy Simpson (two sons, one daughter); died Los Angeles 10 March 1998. More about: Amazon.com: Sea Hunt TV Series (24 Hour Marathon) Starring Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges: Lloyd Bridges, Ken Drake, Courtney Brown, James Buxbaum: Movies & TV Sea Hunt TV Series (24 Hour Marathon) Starring Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges $13.76 — Unlimited Streaming with Amazon Prime Start your 30-day free trial to stream thousands of movies & TV shows included with Prime.

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By David Porta on May 8, 2013 56% of Season 1 [22 of 39 episodes] 26% of Season 2 [10 of 39 episodes] 28% of Season 3 [11 of 39 episodes] 55% of Season 4 [21 of 38 episodes] 41% of Entire Series [64 of 155 episodes] Season 1, Episode 1 Sixty Feet Below (Pilot Episode) Season 1, Episode 3 Rapture of the Deep Season 1, Episode 4 Mark of the Octopus Season 1, Episode 5 Sea Sled Season 1, Episode 6 Female of the Species Season 1, Episode 7 Mr. Read more ›

Question: Who played the diver Mike Nelson in the T.V. series 'Sea Hunt’?
Answer: Lloyd Bridges